DES MOINES, Iowa — Des Moines City Council launched a new Food Security Task Force Monday to help address the needs of residents as COVID-19 continues to impact the entire world.
The task force is made up of seven members and they each have unique backgrounds that will allow them to empower people to produce their own food and provide food for others and in some cases, even provide new jobs.
Ed Fallon and Kathy Byrnes have been producing food on small plots of urban land for 36 years.
Their current project the "Birds and Bees Urban Farm" sits on about eighth of an acre in Des Moines. They produce enough food each year to feed themselves and then some.
"We have a lot of people ask us when they tour our urban farm, do you sell your product, your produce, and we really eat the produce that we that we grow. But people don't think in terms of urban ag as being something for personal use," said Kathy. "And that's a concept we'd like to get out there more to. And we'd like to see eventually, we'd like to see more people able to grow food in Des Moines, in the city limits itself and make a living doing that."
Ed and Kathy grow everything from tomatoes to turnips and even raise bees and chickens.